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"Why did you take so long to get here?!"
Leonard saw Leyton appear beside him, his voice filled with anger and self-reproach.
"Sorry!"
Leyton had wanted to say that your Goddess and that Priest wouldn't allow it, but the words that came out were just a soft apology.
"It's all my fault. If only I were stronger, if only I had discovered the problem earlier…"
Leonard fell into deep self-reproach. He clenched his fists and pounded the floor fiercely.
Leyton wanted to stop him, to tell him that this matter had nothing to do with anyone present, and that the course of events would not deviate because of human will.
"I guess I finally understand how those always-late police officers in TV shows feel."
Leyton mocked himself in his heart.
Da da~
The sound of running came from all around; it was the Punishers and Machinery Hivemind who had just arrived.
"These are the truly late police officers."
Leyton said softly, then his figure quickly faded and disappeared.
After leaving Blackthorn Security Company, Leyton's figure flickered, appearing near the Church of the Evernight Goddess.
"Indeed! The identity of a God of Knowledge's Blessed is very inconvenient to act with; it's practically a negative effect that comes with built-in hatred!"
"I must have appeared in 0-08's script by now, what a hassle! Who on earth has been influencing my judgment and attention?"
Leyton muttered to himself in a low voice. He had clearly tried to avoid 0-08's script, but then he was arranged by others instead.
"I should have known better than to try to steal that drop of Eternal Blazing Sun's divine blood later."
Leyton sighed helplessly. Impulsiveness at any time comes with a price.
Given the current situation, Leyton felt the most reasonable guess was:
When he collaborated with Pallez to steal that drop of divine blood in the Church, he was noticed by the Goddess. To prevent a suddenly appearing Blessed from affecting subsequent developments, she silently gave the other party a slight influence.
"I really suspect if I've been subjected to some kind of bad luck; events are unfolding exceptionally unfavorably, and it's even highly possible that I've entered Amon's brother's line of sight now." He sighed to himself.
Leyton walked towards the Church of the Evernight Goddess ahead. He had stolen something from them, and he had been discovered, so he could only hope the Goddess would not fuss too much, for the sake of the God of Knowledge.
This place was not too far from Blackthorn Security Company, and the commotion from the battle there was quite significant, so the people here also noticed the sound.
The people around seemed a bit flustered; some chose to pray in the nearby church, while others chose to move away from the area.
Leyton followed the somewhat flustered crowd into the church. As soon as he stepped inside, he felt his heart become much calmer.
"There's a Beyonder calming the emotions of the crowd!" Leyton thought to himself.
Following the actions of the people around him, Leyton prayed once before the Night Holy Emblem, then left 5 pounds and 13 soli in banknotes in the offering box in front.
It wasn't that Leyton didn't want to give more, but rather that he only had that much cash on him.
The value of that drop of Eternal Blazing Sun's divine blood was far beyond what a few pounds could compare to, but he didn't have that much money on him, so he could only put all the cash he had into the offering box.
His previous act of stealing the mutated Sun Holy Emblem was equivalent to destroying a Sealed Artifact of the Church of the Evernight Goddess.
After the divine blood within it was taken, that mutated Sun Holy Emblem, although still able to maintain its miraculous effects for a certain period, would slowly dissipate over time, eventually turning into an ordinary Sun Holy Emblem.
After leaving his offering in the offering box, Leyton hesitated briefly, then left the Church of the Evernight Goddess.
The moment he walked out of the church, whether it was his imagination or not, Leyton felt his entire being lighten, as if the burden on him had disappeared.
In a room somewhere on the outskirts of Tingen, a slightly pale hand picked up a classic quill and wrote a line on an ordinary notebook:
"The story of Tingen ends here."
With the rustling of pages, the notebook snapped shut, leaving only its brown cover.
"One story has ended, and another is about to begin."
Walking on the streets of Tingen, Leyton suddenly felt a touch of inspiration and spoke a prophetic-like sentence with a sense of enlightenment.
After saying this, Leyton came back to his senses. He knew he had passively entered a prophetic state again.
"I feel like if this continues, my Reader Sequence 4 Prophet potion won't even need a ritual; it'll just melt in my mouth!"
Leyton muttered to himself with a hint of helplessness.
Wandering aimlessly on the streets of Tingen, Leyton planned to wait here until Klein was resurrected, then contact him before returning to Backlund.
"Things have come to an end for now. I hope I won't forget what I wanted to do again."
He sighed helplessly in his heart.
Even without having formally encountered a Spectator Pathway Beyonder, Leyton was already starting to dislike them.
While strolling on the street, Leyton unexpectedly ran into Leonard. The latter's face was very grim, and as he walked, he seemed to be continuously steeling himself mentally.
"Why are you here?"
Leonard also saw Leyton walking towards him.
"Just passing by," Leyton replied.
"You've done your best. It's normal to be sad, but there's no need for self-reproach."
Seeing that the other party's face was still grim, Leyton tried to comfort him.
"No need for self-reproach? How is that possible…"
Leonard's voice was a bit low.
"Perhaps, in the Tenebrous Heaven, they have already found peace and liberation, or perhaps, the miracle of resurrection will occur."
Seeing that the other party's will was still very low, Leyton gave him a slight hint.
"Liberation… Miracle? Perhaps only by killing him will Captain and the others, and myself, find liberation!"
Leonard's will recovered quite a bit. But it was not in the direction Leyton was comforting, so he could only offer a blessing:
"Good luck to you. Although it's difficult, hope is not slim."
"Really?"
Leonard's eyes lit up.
"Really! Just consider it one of my prophecies."
Leyton nodded slightly, giving an affirmative answer.
Passing by Leonard, the two walked in different directions.
Leyton stayed in Tingen for a few days, until after the funeral.
When night fell, Leyton arrived at Raphael graveyard with two bouquets of white flowers.
After placing a bouquet of white flowers at Dunn's and Klein's graves respectively, he quietly walked to the side and waited.
Leyton had not yet waited for Klein to crawl out of the grave when he first saw Mr. Azik, with his bronze skin, dark eyes, soft features, and a tiny black mole below his right ear, arriving with a bouquet of white flowers to pay his respects.
The two exchanged glances, then silently averted their gazes. Leyton continued to stay in front of a tombstone, while Mr. Azik walked to Klein's tombstone, stood there for a long time, then finally bent down to place the flowers and turned to leave the graveyard.
Leyton looked down at the tombstone in front of him, feeling very fortunate that someone had visited this tombstone during the day and left some fresh flowers, otherwise Leyton's actions would have been very suspicious.
After Mr. Azik left, Leyton walked to Klein's grave pit.
Streaks of starlight fell, condensing into the shape of a high-backed chair beside Leyton. Leyton naturally sat on the high-backed chair formed by starlight, quietly gazing at Klein's tombstone.
The Eyes of Mystery Prying's gaze penetrated the soil and the wooden coffin, seeing Klein lying inside. The wound on his left chest was slowly wriggling and healing!
Suddenly, the stone slab sealing the grave pit was pushed, and a slightly pale hand stretched out from the soil.
Leyton raised an eyebrow:
"He can still crawl out of the coffin, it really was buried too shallowly!"
Then he reached out and grasped at the void in front of him, pulling out several light yellow, gold-edged white papers with sunflower patterns from the Spirit World.
Then he took out a handful of powdered material from his pocket and sprinkled it evenly on the white papers.
A vivid image of a Zombie crawling out of the grave appeared on the paper.
Looking at the watercolor painting in his hand, Leyton nodded with satisfaction, then sprinkled powdered material on another white paper, drawing a cartoon black cat version of a watercolor painting.
Whoosh!
The stone slab was pushed open, and the coffin lid was also pushed open. The resurrected Klein sat up in his grave.
Klein looked around with a slightly bewildered expression, then saw Leyton sitting on a high-backed chair condensed from starlight, holding several light yellow white papers and smiling as he observed him.
A sense of familiarity came over him, and Klein's memories from when he was on the verge of death resurfaced in his mind.
A hand holding the Saint Selena's ash box, and the slightly pale hand that had pierced his left chest, as well as the figure that appeared as he finally lost consciousness.
"You! You're the person behind this!"
Klein's voice instantly filled with panic. He hadn't even figured out how he came back to life, and he was already being camped!
"Uh, although I arrived a little late, it's not to the point of becoming the mastermind behind the scenes!"
Leyton sighed with black lines across his forehead.
The other person's reply made Klein's tense heart relax slightly. As long as he wasn't being camped, it was fine, but he was still very wary of this person who suddenly appeared.
"Who are you?"
Klein asked cautiously.
"Consider me an investor sent by the Hidden Sage. Uh, an investment in you."
Leyton said after a slight thought.
"Aren't you curious how you came back to life?"
Leyton didn't wait for the other party to ask further and asked first.
Upon hearing this, Klein instinctively lowered his head, unbuttoned his clothes, and looked at the wound on his left chest. The wound, which should have been gruesome and terrifying, was wriggling and healing. Although somewhat slow, most of the wound had already healed.
The chilly night wind blew, and Klein shivered, coming back to his senses.
Looking at Leyton sitting on the high-backed chair condensed from starlight in front of him, and recalling Old Neil's previous desire to obtain knowledge from the Hidden Sage to resurrect his wife, Klein said with a mix of confusion and a bitter smile:
"Is my resurrection related to the Hidden Sage?"
"No, the Hidden Sage only saw something special about you, so he decided to invest in you."
"You once gazed at the Hidden Sage's residual imprint. You saw Him, and He saw you."
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